Kurdish MP in Turkey fined for saying ‘Kurdistan’ loses one-third of salary
The MP was fined for insulting “the common past and history of the Turkish people.”
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – A Kurdish Member of the Turkish Parliament from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) has lost one-third of his salary after he uttered the word “Kurdistan” during a Parliament session late last year.
Osman Baydemir, a Kurdish lawmaker in the Turkish Parliament representing the HDP, was fined for saying “Kurdistan” after the use of the word was banned last July by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)-dominated Parliament.
According to a government statement on the matter, the MP was fined for insulting “the common past and history of the Turkish people.”
While addressing a session on talks about Turkey’s 2018 national budget in December last year, Baydemir questioned if the government intended to allocate a share of the budget for preservation, use, and improvement of Kurdish and minority languages.
“Twenty-five million Kurds live in this country. Saying ‘there is a [state-owned] Kurdish TV channel, what else do you want?’ is an ingrained version of assimilation,” Baydemir said.
“As a child of the Kurdish people, as a representative from Kurdistan, I have a mission. I want this roof to be shared by the Turks and Kurds. If you [continue to] exclude the Kurds, if you count them non-existent, if you put them in prisons, the whole 80 million [population of Turkey] will lose,” he continued.
After completing his televised speech, Deputy Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Aysenur Bahcekapili of the AKP insistently asked Baydemir where Kurdistan was.
In response, the Kurdish lawmaker put his palm on his chest and said Kurdistan was there.
“This. This very place is Kurdistan, Mrs. Speaker. Kurdistan is right here,” he said, gesturing toward his heart.
The Kurdish MP was eventually banned from two legislative sessions and fined 12,000 Liras (approx. 3,100 USD).
